Ice skate



H. LEWIS ICE SKATE Filed April 15, 1931 INVENTOR.

Patented Aug. 4, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HARVEY LEWIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO NESTOR JOHNSON MANUFAC- TUBING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS ICE SKATE Application filed April 15,

This invention relates to ice skates and more particularly to ice skates of the socalled tubular type, that is, skates in which the runner blade is fitted in a tube which extends lengthwise of the skate along the foot supporting frame.

Skates of this type, as heretofore manufactured, have necessitated the making of a considerable number of parts for each skate because the several parts constituting the frame are separate and distinct elements, all of which must be joined in the assembling of the skate. Such parts comprise the tube, the runnerblade, the separate sole and heel plates, the separate supporting cups therefor, and the toe piece which is usually in the form of a flat strip of metal at the front of the plate between the sole plate and the runner tube. These parts are independently made and applied in. the assembling of a skate and thus render expensive the production of skates of this particular design.

The object of my invention is to provide a tubular skate of such design that the skate comprises only three parts, two for the foot supporting frame, and the third for the runner blade. In this manner, the parts for each skate are reduced to the ultimate minimum, thereby simplifying the process of manufacture and effecting considerable saving both in manufacture and assembly. 7

In accordance with my invention, the two parts composing the foot supporting frame are similar in shape and design and are in the form of longitudinal half sections, which when secured together, form the supporting frame with its sole and heel plates and supports therefor and runner blade supporting tube as integral units instead of separately formed and fitted parts as heretofore.

A further object of my invention is to so design the skate, that the two parts of the frame may be formed from sheet metal, as by a stamping process, with each half section so shaped to provide in integrally connected relation, the half portions of the sole and heel plates, their supports and the tube for the runner blade. 7

A further object of my invention is to have the supports for the sole and heel plates of 1931. Serial No. 530,187.

formation of sheet metal instead of casting which necessitates the handling of molten metal and specially constructed dies and other equipment incident thereto.

A further object of my invention is to also provide bulged portions in the fiat connecting portions of the half sections and their sole and heel plate forming portions to reinforce the same and thus further enable the making of these sections from sheet metal.

The invention consists further in the matters hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a skate constructed in accordance with my invention;

F ig. 2 is a perspective view of the skate, the three parts thereof being shown in disa sembled relation for the purpose of illustration; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are vertical sectional ViZJVt; taken on lines 3-3 and 4c4, respectively, of Fig. 1.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the foot snp porting frame of the skate and 2 indicates the runner blade.

The frame is composed of two independently formed similar half sections, 3, 3, each in the shape shown in the drawings and stamped from sheet metal of the character required for the strength, rigidity and tini for the frame. In the form shown, each ha section 3 has a body portion 4 extending the full length of the skate from front to rear and provided for the greater portion of its length along its lower edge with an outwardly bulged portion 5. hen the half sections 9 are secured together to form the frame, the bulged portions 5 of the two sections are op positely disposed and provide the frame with a tubular portion 6 to receive the runner blade 2, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The bulged portions 5 reinforce the half sections 3 in which they are provided and thus give sufficient strength to the sections to enable them to be formed from sheet metal. The body portion extends beyond the ends of the portions 5 to port for the portion 9 of the section forming half of the sole plate of the skate. The plate 8 is at or adjacent the rear end of the section and provides the support for the portion 10 of the section forming half of the heel plate of the skate. The portions 9, 10 of each sec- .tion 3 are integral with their respective plates 7, 8 being bent outward in substantial right angular relation thereto in the blanking of the sections. The portions .9, 10 of each section are at the upper ends of the plates or webs 7, 8 and form the respective sole and heel plates of the skate when the sections are secured together where the plates meet in fiatwise contacting relation. The plates may be secured together by electric welding or-otherwise and being flat permit this to be readily and easily accomplished.

The plates or webs 7, 8 take the place of the soleand heel cups heretofore used in tubular skate construction and thus eliminate the necessity and expense of these complicated parts. The plates 7 in being continued to the front end of the skate take the place of the toe piece heretofore employed tosupport the front end of the sole plate. With the plates 7, 8 of my present skate fitting together in flatwise contact, they could, if desired, be continued the full length of theskate and thus provide a continuous support from front to rear of the skate. For the purpose of appearance, and also to reduce wei ht; I provide an open space in each section 3 between its plates 7, 8, which space is beneath the instep of the wearer of the skate. 7

To further lighten the weight of the skate, I remove portions of the metal making up the plates 7, 8 in the blanking of sections by cutting holes 11, 11 therein of any desired design as shown. It is only necessary to leave enough metal in these plates to permit their connection for securingthe plates together and for strength. To further strengthen the plates, I provide each of them with outwardly bulged portions 12, 12 in the form of ribs or ridges. These ribs extend the full height of plates and are so arranged on the respec tive plates that they are oppositely disposed and provide tubular-like reenforcements therefor. To reenforce the portions 9, 10, I continue the ribs 12 into the same, as shown in Figs. 2 and t. With this arrangement, suihcient support is provided for the foot of the wearer with the portions 9, 10 in the form of flanges integral with'and extending laterally outward from the supporting plates 7, 8.

The flanges 9, 10 are provided with a number of apertures or holes 13, 13 suitably arranged and distributed, preferably about the margins thereof to receive the rivets (not shown) by which a shoe 14 may be permanently attached to the skate, as in structures of this kind. The portions 9, 9 are in the plane of each other, while the same arrangement is followed with respect to the portions 10, 10 thus enabling the sole and heel plates of the skate to be provided by parts which are integral with their respective half sections 3, 3. Moreover, the portions making up each plate are shaped to lit the contour of the sole and .heel partsof the shoe to be attached to the skate.

The body portion of each halfsection 3 extends downward below the tubular portion 5 therein in the formof a depending flange 15. These flanges, when the sections are secured together, are oppositely disposed in parallel relation and receive between them the upper edge portion of the runner blade 2, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The flanges and the blade are welded together along the length thereof and at the front of the skate a rivet 16 may be used, as shown.

The runner blade 2 lies in the plane of contact of the plates 7, 8 of the half sections 3, and the flanges 15 are offsetoutward sufficiently to accommodate the thickness of the blade.

With the supports for the sole and heel plates of the skate in the form of flat plates or webs as provided by my invention, there are no outwardly projecting parts to add weight :to the sides of the skate or detract from its fiat symmetrical appearance. The

ribs 12 do not project far enough out from 'the plates to add any weight or give'the sides scribed. This is a marked improvement in skate manufacture and permits the making of skates of the tubular type'at less expense and with less labor than heretofore. The design of the skate well lends itselfto a stamping and bending process and :thus may beinade from sheet metal.

As the bottom ofthe runner, or that part which comes in .contact with the ice, has a convex or rocker shape to it, it is evident that when the skate is being skated upon the full weight of the skater together with other additional strains put upon it, fall upon the center of the skate runner, tube, etc. Conse quently, if the skate does not possess a rigid construction, .both runner and tube will spring upward, causing the runner to break or lose its convex shape to some extent; These hazardous conditions have been eliminated,

however, in the skate structure of my invention because of the provision of the continuous perpendicular wall or web sections 7, 4 and 8 which extend the full length of the tube on the upper side thereof. This feature is especially important in long sizes of skates of the so-called razor style or type.

The details of structure shown and described may be variously changed and modified without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. An ice skate, comprising a runner blade and a foot supporting frame, the latter consisting of a pair of longitudinally extending similar half sections formed of sheet metal and each secured together with the blade between them, each section having an outward- 'ly bulged portion extending lengthwise of the section to reinforce the same, the said sections being secured together with their bulged portions oppositely disposed to provide a tubular portion along the blade.

2. An ice skate, comprising a runner blade and a foot supporting frame, the latter consisting of a pair of longitudinally extending similar half sections, said sect-ions having sole and heel plate forming portions and substantially flat supporting webs therefor below the same, said sections being placed together with the webs in flatwise contact and secured together at the webs with the runner blade between the sections below the webs.

3. An ice skate, comprising a runner blade and a foot supporting frame, the latter consisting of a pair of longitudinally extending similar half sections, said sections having sole and heel plate forming portions and substantially fiat supporting webs therefor below the same, said webs being secured together in flatwise contact and extending the full length of their respective sole and heel forming portions with the runner blade between the sections below in the webs and in the same general plane thereof.

4. An ice skate, comprising a runner blade and a foot supporting frame, the latter consisting of a pair of longitudinally extending similar half sections formed of sheet metal, said sections having sole and heel plate forming portions and substantially flat supporting webs therefor below the same, said webs being secured together in fiatwise contact with the runner blade between the sections below the webs, each section being bulged outward in the webs to reinforce the same.

5. An ice skate, comprising a runner blade and a foot supporting frame, the latter consisting of a pair of longitudinally extending similar half sections formed of sheet metal and secured together with the blade between them, said sections having sole and heel plate forming portions and substantially flat supporting webs therefor with said portions integral with and extending outward from the webs in angular relation thereto, each section being bulged outward in the webs and the respective sole and heel plate forming portions to reinforce the same, with the bulged portions in the form of continuous ribs ex-;

tending across the webs and into the respective sole and heel plate forming portions.

6. An ice skate, comprising a runner blade and a foot supporting frame, the latter consisting of a pair of longitudinally extend. ing similar half sections formed of sheet metal, said sections having sole and heel plate forming portions and substantially flat supporting webs therefor below the same with said portions integral with and extending;

outward from the webs in angular relation thereto, said sections being secured at the webs with the latter in flatwise contact and with the runner blade between the sections below the webs, said sections being bulged outwardly to reinforce the same with the bulges in the form of interconnected ribs, one extending lengthwise of the section above the runner blade and along the same, and

others extending across the webs and into the;

above the same, the webs of each section be ing spaced apart in the length of the skate to separate the heel plates from the sole plates with the webs for the latter continuing to the front end of the frame.

8. An ice skate, comprising a runner blade and a foot supporting frame, the latter consisting of a pair of longitudinally extending similar half sections formed of sheet metal, said sections having sole and heel plate forming portions and substantially fiat supporting webs therefor and below the same with the portions integral with and extending outward from the webs in angular relation thereto, said sections being secured together at the webs with the latter in flatwise contact and with the blade between the sections, said webs being provided with openings therein to lighten the frame of the skate.

9. An ice skate, comprising a runner blade and a foot supporting frame, the latter consisting of a pair of longitudinally extending similar half sections formed of sheet metal, said sections having sole and heel plate forming portions and substantially flat supporting webs therefor and below the same with the portions integral with and extending outward from the webs in angular relation thereto, said sections having outwardly bulged portions below the webs to provide a tubular reinforcing rib for the sections, and flanges below the rib to receive the runner blade between them, said sectionswbeing Welded togetli ier and to one blade at the Webs and flanges, respectively.

. 10. An ice skate, comprising a runner blade and a foot supporting frame, the latter consisting of a pair of longitudinally extending similar half sections formed of sheet metal andbent to provide the. connecting Webs and the sole and heel supporting portions of the frame, said sections being secured together at the Webs With the blade between them.

11. An ice skate, comprising arunner blade and a foot supportingframe the latter consisting of a pair of longitudinally extending similar half sections formed of sheet metal and bent to provide the connecting Webs and r the sole and heel supporting portions of-the frame, said sections being secured together at the Webs with the blade betweenthem, said sections being bulged outwardly in the Webs to reinforce the same.

12. An ice skate, comprisinga runner blade and a foot supporting frame, the latter con- 5 sisting of a pair of longitudinally extending similar half sections formed to provide the connecting Webs and the sole and heel supporting portions of the frame, said sections being secured together with the blade between them, the Webs of the sections having oppositely disposed outwardly bulged portions extending along the blade to prevent bending of the same. 7 J p In testimony whereof I afix my, signature.

' HARVEY. LEWIS. 

